HS hockey: Rally sends Victor to state title game

Blue Devils erase two-goal deficit with big third period to beat Massena and clinch spot in Sunday's Divisoin 1 state championship

By Nick WojtonMessenger Post Freelancer

BUFFALO — The Victor hockey team was nearing uncharted territory, but instead the Blue Devils decided to flip the script on the Massena Red Raiders en route to a 4-2 win on Saturday at HarborCenter in Buffalo to secure their first trip to the state title game.

Undefeated Victor had goals from Evan Millspaugh, Josh Albert, and Lukas Miller, while Sam Lambert iced the game with an empty-netter. Mitch Rydzynski also added two assists. Massena’s goals came from Logan Chilton and Nicholas Linstad.

“It feels unbelievable,” Miller, the game-winning goal scorer said.

But it wasn’t an unbelievable feeling from start to finish. In the first period, the game was not going Victor's way.

On the game’s first power play, Massena scored off the faceoff as the Raiders put the puck toward Chayse Ierlan (14 saves) in the Victor net and Chilton fired a loose puck into the net for the 1-0 lead.

Despite a tight start to the game, the first tally gave Massena the momentum for the rest of the opening period. Stuck on their heels, the Blue Devils allowed Massena to double its lead to 2-0.

With Victor unable to clear the zone, the Raiders worked the puck into the corner and fired a shot at the net. Ierlan made the first stop, and a second stop on a spinning, backhand shot by Linstad, but Linstad stayed with his rebound and from the faceoff circle to the left of the Victor net, he found the top corner with less than four minutes left in the opening frame.

Following the opening period, Victor head coach Michael Ferreri said his team just needed to relax.

“Just keep the game simple and stay out of the extra stuff after the whistle,” Ferreri said. “I think we let our emotions get to us for sure.”

In the second period, Victor still appeared to be stuck in the mud early as the Raiders handed the Blue Devils a power play seconds into the frame but Victor failed to muster a shot on goal. From there, things slowly but surely began to turn around.

The game increased to a chippy level but evened out and Victor cut into the lead. Working the puck low, Rydzynski sent a pass from the corner to the right of Massena goalie Nathan Moffitt (14 saves) to Millspaugh at the point, who took a low shot through traffic that found the bottom corner of the net 5:32 into the period.

The 2-1 Massena lead held until the third period as the Raiders threatened to score multiple times late but Irelan stood tall for Victor and his teammates made his efforts worthwhile early in the final frame.

Within the first four minutes of the third period, Victor put together an incredible rally thanks to its power play to take the 3-2 lead.

Only 44 seconds into the frame, Albert fired a low from the center of the blue line on an early power play, and his shot, like Millspaugh’s, found the back of the goal to tie the game at 2-2.

Less than a minute after letting Victor tie the game, Massena put the Blue Devils back on the power play. On the ensuing advantage, Tony Prem fired a shot from the point and Moffitt made the kick save with his right leg. On the big rebound, Miller dove toward the loose puck and poked it into the net.

“I just noticed we didn’t have anybody out in front of the net I just parked myself in front of the net and Tony just took a shot, the goalie didn’t handle it all that well and it was a little out of my reach but I just got a piece of it,” Miller said.

Heading into the third, Miller added that his team felt confident they’d come back to secure a spot in the program’s first trip to the state title game.

“We know that we’re a great hockey team and we just needed to keep things simple,” Miller said.

Down the stretch with another 10 minutes left, the Blue Devils went into a defensive shell and rode their workhorse in Irelan to the finish line, where Lambert put away the empty netter with one second left to secure the 4-2 win.

“You feel better down the stretch with that kid (Ireland),” Ferreri said.

Victor’s final step toward a state title will be against Niagara-Wheatfield High School on Sunday at noon.

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